 I'm pleased to be participating in this high-level segment of the third Euro-African forum and to bring you the very best wishes from President Mohamed Abu-Hari and the people of Nigeria. I thank Professor Marcelo Rebelo de Susan, President of Portugal, for inviting Nigeria to be part of this landmark session. It's a sign of the times that this session of the Euro-African forum is taking place virtually. It is once a reminder that the deadly COVID-19 pandemic is very much with us. But being able to organize this virtual meeting is also proof of the resilience of the human spirit that we've been able to leverage technology in order to get on with our lives. The Euro-African forum is always a good opportunity to review the state of partnership between our two regions and to share perspectives on matters of mutual interest. It is natural, therefore, that a lot of our discussions here are focused on COVID-19 and its impact on our people, our countries and our regions. The magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly put national health systems in both developed and developing countries under severe strain and very few economies have escaped a severe economic downturn. In Nigeria, our priority has been to ward off a deep recession. We developed an economic sustainability plan consisting of measures to support local businesses, retain and create jobs and to improve the circumstances of the most vulnerable. The plan bolsters our health interventions and promotes the use of labor-intensive methods in key areas like agriculture, light manufacturing, housing, facilities management, among others. It's also aimed at increasing infrastructural investments in roads, in bridges, in solar power and communications technologies. The size of the economic sustainability plan is 2.3 trillion naira, which is just about 1.5% of our national income. It's not as large as we would have liked it to be, but it was the best we could, given the existing fiscal and monetary constraints. Indeed, the extent and speed of the spread of the pandemic was such that the instinct in nearly all countries was to look in one for national solutions. The outcome was uncoordinated lockdowns, travel restrictions, trade embargoes and disruptions in global trade and logistic chains. Even national fiscal stimulus plans and financial sector interventions to cope with the health and economic fallout of COVID-19 were taken by individual states. This is perhaps understandable, but it is self-limiting and humanity can certainly do better than this. A global crisis calls for a global partnership. If COVID-19 exists in any part of the world, it remains a significant threat to every part of the world. The partnership between Africa and the European Union is a good platform for both sides to work together on economic recovery and rebuilding of health systems. It's also equally important that we become even stronger advocates for closer international cooperation to tackle the fallout of COVID-19. From the African perspective, two issues readily come to mind. The first is to ensure widespread and equitable access to a COVID-19 vaccine. Europe should work closely with Africa to ensure that when a vaccine is finally deployed, it should not be on the basis of the highest bidder, but rather be made available at an affordable and in an accessible manner. This is a matter that should not be taken for granted. We saw during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in richer parts of the world that orders for test kits and reagents by African countries were deemed too small and tended to be ignored. Although Nigeria does not have the resources or means to prepay for a COVID-19 vaccine, we are fortunate to be a Gavi-supported country. And we urge the EU to lend support to Gavi's efforts to ensure equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX initiative. This way, poorer countries and their citizens will get the vaccines that they need, at the same time as the rest of the world. While it is true that developed countries, including in Europe, also face economic challenges arising from the impact of COVID-19, it's also true that they have more fiscal and monetary latitude to respond to the economic crisis caused by COVID-19. For African countries, on the other hand, the situation is more down given our previous structural vulnerabilities and limitations. We continue to experience huge financing gaps, huge debt-servicing obligations and foreign exchange shortages. It is clear then that we need all the help that we can get. The debt-servicing support initiative of the G20 is welcome and will no doubt bring some relief to African countries. However, it remains inadequate because it does not address the problem of commercial debt service obligations. As things stand, the share of commercial debt is almost two-thirds of debt service in Africa. So any debt relief arrangement not involving this segment is unlikely to succeed. Getting relief on commercial debt servicing will require the cooperation of bondholders and ratings agencies, which is why the African Union Special Envoys on COVID-19 are engaging with them actively. Nigeria calls on the EU to lend its weight to this initiative, which is very important for Africa. There are of course many other matters on which Africa and the EU must continue to collaborate and to which we must use the opportunity of this summit to move ahead on. Investment in trade, human capital development and the proper management of migration are areas in which our partnerships should continue to be built. I am confident that we will continue to deepen such relationships, which must continue to be anchored on enabling both regions to attain the social and economic objectives in an increasingly environmentally friendly and digital world. Once more, please accept my gratitude, behalf of Nigeria, for the honor of this participation. God bless the Euro Africa partnership. Thank you very much.